Most contemporary automobiles include electrical power systems for supplying electricity to various vehicle systems (e.g., the starter, radio or entertainment center). Power systems include a battery and a power converter/alternator that converts electrical power generated by the vehicle's primary power source. For example, with automobiles having internal combustion engines, alternators can be attached to the engine and the rotational energy from the engine crankshaft can be harvested into electrical power. In this way, the alternator acts as a traditional generator.
In some arrangements, alternators are mounted to the vehicle engine and grounded through the vehicle chassis. A return current path to the alternator travels through grounding cables or wires that extend from the engine block to the chassis. This configuration has several detrimental effects. Not only do the use of grounding cables increase the overall part costs of the power system but they can lead to significant power losses throughout the system. The return current circuit path through cables contains resistance which causes voltage drops. The voltage drops represent wasted energy and may affect vehicular loads due to reduced voltage levels.
Some contemporary alternators elevate voltage outputs in order to compensate for voltage drops. E.g., some alternators use higher voltage batteries such as a 12V battery to compensate for losses in the return current circuit paths utilizing cables. In other vehicles, e.g., some hybrid electric vehicles, grounding cables and structures are used to facilitate return currents. These solutions, however, suffer from excessive voltage drop and loss of energy as well.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a mounting/grounding assembly for a power converter that enables the converter to be efficiently grounded to the vehicle chassis. It is further desirable to provide a corrosion resistant mounting assembly for the power converter. It would also be beneficial to have a mounting assembly that can be utilized in hybrid, fuel cell and/or electric vehicles.